


oh, glory to you our singing family (a festive song is our law)

by Anonymous



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Ernesto is a shady dick as always, Family Drama, Gen, Héctor gets the fame he deserves at a cost, Misunderstandings, Pseudonyms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-08-17 02:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16507181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Héctor García is the idol of both Miguel and Rosa Rivera, who aspire to be musicians one day. There’s only one problem: their family hates music, as a result of their great-great grandfather leaving behind his wife and daughter a long time ago.But on the Day of the Dead, the two cousins end up making a discovery about their great-great grandfatherandtheir idol, proving that there is more to the tale than what they’ve been told…





	oh, glory to you our singing family (a festive song is our law)

**Author's Note:**

> I saw an AU with this type of premise, and I decided to write it out. For now, have my attempt at taking Miguel’s narration and running it parallel with this AU.
> 
> And yes, Rosa will be a main character – and the celebrities aren’t just minor cameos that appear for a few seconds, then disappearing into nowhere. You’ll see later on.

A lot of stories usually go like this: there is a hero who falls in love with a beautiful woman, and he goes through so much pain and suffering to win the heart of said woman. He succeeds, they marry and it’s all sunshine and butterflies – except, that’s just a fairytale. In real life, some heroes aren’t saints – sometimes, the hero leaves his wife and child behind for his own selfish needs.

…at least, that’s what Abuelita used to say when mi prima, Rosa, and I were small. I suppose she’s right – after all, this is real life. We live in the real world, not some fairytale from a child’s storybook.

In the real world, the story goes like _this:_ back in the 1900s, there was a family – a papá, a mamá and their little daughter. The father was a musician, and would play for his wife and daughter.

This man had a dream, though – to play for the world. So, he left one night, never returning – and as a result, the woman banned music from her life and started a business specializing in making shoes. She taught her brothers, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughters to make shoes – and the rest is history.

The woman… she was my great-great grandmother, Mamá Imelda. She died at age 70 in 1969, of a heart attack. My family tells her story every year on Día de Muertos, so that her memory lives on.

And of course, alongside her memory lives on the music ban, with Abuelita taking up Mamá Imelda’s role and fitting into it as perfectly as Cenicienta’s foot fit into the glass slipper.

Luckily, not everyone in my family is so keen on following this ban – Rosa also loves music, especially _violin music._ Together, we spend our time in the attic, crafting our own instruments while listening to all kinds of music.

There’s also our great-grandmother, Mamá Coco – she’s a great listener, though her memory is a little… fuzzy, sometimes; though, that’s to be expected for a ninety-nine year-old.

You might be wondering, where did this love of music come from? Well, the one to blame for that is the one and only Héctor García.

Señor García started out as this total nobody from Santa Cecilia, like me – he didn’t even really sing in public that much in the beginning. At first, he just played the guitar while his childhood friend, Ernesto de la Cruz, sung – but one day, while they were on a tour of the country,  he mustered up the courage to sing in front of a crowd, winning their hearts in the process.

Soon, he rose to stardom as he continued to sing, with the encouragement from his fans and a little push by his friend, who served as his manager. He also starred in movies, had a great skull guitar, and even was a priest!  He wrote the _best_ songs, but my favorite of his is ‘Remember Me.’

People called him the “Angel of Santa Cecilia” – and with good reason, as he was a kind, generous soul. He was charitable, giving away money to the poor along with funding orphanages – he even helped Cecilia Carpintero start up her dress shop, which reeled people in from all parts of the world who were flocking to buy her dresses.

He lived the kind of life you’d dream about, beloved by all. Of course, nothing lasts forever – in 1978, he died in a car accident, driving home from his last performance.

Señor García has been a _huge_ inspiration for me and Rosa – sometimes, it even feels as though we’ve got this connection to him. Like, if he could find his voice and sing for the world, then I could play the guitar and sing – and Rosa could play her violin without having to worry about Abuelita taking it away!

Sometimes, I wish he was my great-great grandfather instead. Maybe then, mi prima and I could play music…

At the very least, we’d have _one_ family member’s blessing instead of just having each other.


End file.
